Leon (Thomas Schubert ) a student photographer and Felix (Langston Uibel), a young published writer go for a working holiday in a remote cabin. A forest fire rages and glows off in the distance. On the way, their car breaks down. Felix, lanky and athletic runs to find a short cut to the cabin as Leon, a bit pudgier and more morose waits for his return. We are quickly put on edge as though this might be entering some kind of adult fairy tale. But that is not the case but the film will take on a mythic tone. Though the wind is blowing in from the sea and allegedly keeping the blaze away from the property, not so other obstacles to a quiet vacation. Blows against Leon's ego and sense of self-worth will be repeatedly challenged.
They are first visited by Nadja, a family friend played by Paula Beers, a Petzold regular. Her behavior runs from kind and accepting to impatient, often with Leon's closed off and introverted nature. Another visitor, Devid, a good-looking life guard arrives and further complicates the relationships in some unexpected ways.
A second another visitor arrives - Leon's editor/publisher who is there to provide feedback on Leon's new manuscript which becomes another blow to Lean's ego. Meanwhile, the fire continues to burn in the distance - literally and metaphorically. Thomas Schubert is wonderful in his portrayal of a young man confounded by so much while he instead, as a writer, he might be better off open to the vagaries and contingencies of life.
Like the best Petzold films, complications build quietly. Small revelations provide insights into human nature that each viewer may interpret differently. But build they do, until we are fairly devastated by the film's conclusion.
